


Dead End Job

by genericfanatic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cancer, Gen, I swear this fic is a lot happier than the tags make it seem, Suicide, don't be scared by the major character death thing, the only permanent death you'll see coming a mile away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 07:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9810089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genericfanatic/pseuds/genericfanatic
Summary: When Keith dies, he gets the opportunity to extend his life and become a Reaper. In order to complete his job, however, he is paired up with a rowdy ghost named Lance. He and Lance have very different ideas about how to reap the souls of the dead, but they have to work past it if they are to put to rest the soul of a young teenage boy, and solve Keith's murder while they're at it.





	1. Act One

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so, a couple of things.  
> 1) I am so sorry that instead of updating the....3....fics I have going I'm starting this one, but I have good reason. Ish. See note 3. And I am still working on the others its just real-person writing has kinda taken priority. 
> 
> 2) yes there is a lot death related things in this, but I swear, this is supposed to be mainly a happier fic with some sad things, but its not all depressing all the time. 
> 
> 3) WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP A STARVING SCREENWRITER OUT? So, the reason I ended up writing this fic is...kinda as a try-out for tv pilot I wanna write? So, first off thats why some of the characters might not be completely in character, they're based on OC's. Second, while I normally only really appreciate your overwhelming praise (and I'll still take that, don't you worry) For any of you who like analyzing shit, I'm opening this up for some critique. Please still be nice. Things I'm looking for if you find faulty:  
> a-The world. Do you kinda understand what's happening, at least enough that you can wait for some things to be explained later?  
> b-dialogue. As much as I tried to make my prose make sense, when I translate this to a screenplay, it won't matter as much. The dialogue, however, would be translated.   
> c-story/events/plot. Do the character's actions make sense? Do you feel its going somewhere? Are you interested in what's going to happen?
> 
> I'm probably not going to be able to change anything for the fic when it comes to critique, but it will help loads as I'm writing it in screenplay format. Thank you all!

When Keith was young, he had gone to a fortune teller. Despite believing in aliens and bigfoot, he was skeptical about psychics and future telling and those kinds of things. Everyone had to have a line in the sand somewhere, right?

But it was a fair, and he was having fun, so, why not?

He nearly shit his pants when the ‘Death’ card flipped over. That always bode ill fortune in the movies. 

But the fortune teller smiled at him, and explained the meaning of the card. “It’s an end, is all,” She said, “An end to one thing so that a new thing could begin. It doesn’t mean literal death.”

She was half right.

Keith didn’t remember much from the day, you know, THAT day, but he remembered 3 things. 1) Extreme pain in his lungs as the last bubble of air was pushed out of them. 2) Someone at the edge of the dock, giving him a hard shove into the water. 3) A hooded figure approaching him on the bottom of the lake, guiding him back into his body. 

————————  
6 months later  
————————

Keith woke with a start. He had dreamed about his death again. This time the killer had assumed his own face. 

As he silently cursed his subconscious for being unoriginal, he became aware of 2 sounds. The first was his faucet running. The second was his cell phone buzzing. 

His cell phone was closer, so he dealt with that first. Bleerily, he reached over and hit ‘answer.’ “Hello?”

“Oh, so you ARE alive,” Shiro’s voice came through the other end. 

Keith chuckled to himself at the irony of that statement as he unfurled himself from the covers and got up to turn the faucet off. “Any reason you thought I wasn’t?”

“Maybe the fact you’ve been ignoring my messages for 3 days?”

Keith pulled the phone away from his ear. 18 missed notifications. “Oops,” Keith said putting his phone back to his ear. “I accidentally let my phone die, I just plugged it in to charge last night. Sorry.”

“Ugh,” Shiro complained, “You’re younger than me, aren’t you supposed to be hip with all the tech stuff.”

Keith put the phone on speaker as he got his belongings ready for the day, “Okay, first off, you’re like, 6 years older than me, stop calling yourself old.” 

“So old.” Shiro whined, “Too weak…to stand…”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Second, I’ve just been busy, okay? New job, weird hours.” He checks the time on his phone. 5:00 pm. “In fact, I need to be getting there now.”

“Seriously?” Shiro asked, “They have you working nights? What is it that you even do, there?”

“I’ve told you, energy transference assistance.” Keith said, getting the rest of his outfit on.

“You realize that’s the vaguest sounding job title I’ve ever heard, right?” Shiro complained again, “What does that mean?”

“It means I have to go to work right now.”

“But—“

“Bye.” Keith hangs up the phone and picks up the black bundle he has set aside. 

The walk to his workplace was cold and silent. A lot of things were cold and silent when you worked with death.

He looked up at the house before him. It was burnt down, clearly abandoned long ago. Living people wouldn’t be able to use it.

Good thing that description only half fit him. 

He unfurled the cloak he had been given, twirling it around his shoulders and clasping it around his neck. The second the clasp clicked into place he saw what was hiding in that old, burnt down house. 

The house stood just as it had years before, with white, pristine bricks, 4 stories high, and not a day of age. It shimmered just a bit, revealing it to be how the house was rather than how it is. Still, it would suffice. 

Keith walked in, passing a number of others wearing cloaks. These were the almost-living, like him. Then, there were people who could exist in this reality without cloaks, those with grievous scars on them, or veins popping out of their system, other signs of death. Those were the straight-up ghosts. But it was okay, they could be here.

He gave a few of them polite nods, but passed by them to get to his classroom. 

He was the first one there, as usual. He was first one present back in school, too. What did people do before class? Talk to each other, his brain supplied. Yuck. 

But, people filtered in, slowly. Once the seats were filled, Allura walked in, all dignity and beauty, carrying a stack of papers, and an ornate box. “Good evening, everyone,” She said in her British accent, “Thank you all for settling in quickly, we have a big day ahead of us.”

Everyone’s eyes, Keith’s included, focused on the box. Allura put her hand on it as though she could steal the attention back to herself, “Now, I know you’re all eager to get your partner and mission assignments, but I need to go over a few things with you first. Being a reaper is a huge responsibility, not only for looking out for the souls of the dead, but also keeping your partner in check. 

“Remember, ghosts are, and I know this seems obvious, no longer living. They do not belong in our world, and are only allowed to visit the Veil. They have become supernatural creatures. Therefore, I want to go over the rules they must obey, as you all will be the ones enforcing them. Mary, name a rule for Ghost’s in the Veil.”

“They can’t be separated from their anchor,” Mary replied automatically. 

“Hmm,” Allura said, “that’s not a rule so much as they cannot physically BE separated from their anchor by too far. Would you like to try again?”

“They…are not allowed to get ahold of their anchors.” Mary said, more nervousness in her tone. 

“Good. Remember to keep your ghost’s anchor on your person at all times Another?” 

Paul raised his hand, “Do not allow them to try to interact with strayed ghosts.”

“Yes,” Allura said, “Stray ghosts are dangerous to the living, but sometimes even more so to the dead. Your partners are under your protection, be sure to keep them safe. Another rule? Anyone?” A few people raised their hands, but Allura focused in on one hand not raised. “Keith?”

Keith sighed, “No manifesting.” 

Allura nodded solemnly, “That is the most important rule. By their very existence, ghosts may disturb the land of the living, but they mustn’t manifest as sounds images and certainly aren’t allowed to touch anything. Understood?”

The students all nodded, “Now,” Allura said, “I don’t mean to scare you. These ghosts have been chosen to help guide souls beyond the veil, to places not even we can go. You can trust them, and, if you both do your jobs, I’m sure you will get along famously. Speaking of which,” Her hand went back to the ornate box and everyone leaned forward, eager.

She took out the packet of papers from beneath the box. “Mary Black.” 

Mary stood up and eagerly took the paper Allura handed her. She barely gave it a passing glance before carefully tracking Allura’s hand as it opened the ornate box. With a closed fist, Allura dropped a small trinket into her hand that she cradled reverently. Clutching it to her chest, she left the classroom. 

This process went on for the rest of the students until Keith was the last in the classroom. Finally, Allura’s eyes fell on him. “Keith Kogane.”

He got up as well. She handed him a paper, with the information about his new partner, one ‘Lance McClain.’ That part wasn’t what held his interest, though.

In the corner of the page a symbol was stamped on, a robed figure witting atop a white horse. That…wasn’t right. 

Allura tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to her, finally noticing she was holding out her fist, presumably with a trinket inside. He held out his hand, and she placed a closed circular locket on his palm, attached to a gold chain. “Um, Ms. Allura,” Keith said, hesitant, “I think there’s been some mistake with my assignment.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Oh?”

“This says my partner is a ghost working under the WHITE horse.” He indicated the stamp. “Shouldn’t I be paired with someone under Red?”

She tilted her head, just confused enough to question him, but not enough to care particularly hard about the answer. “Why would you expect your partner to be Red?”

“Aren’t our partners supposed to be of the same group we are?”

“Yes,”

“Right, so, I’m Red.” Her caring level decreased to the point she no longer asked questions. “I was murdered,” He thought back to his dream, the figure pushing himself into the lake, “Which counts as a violent and malevolent death and fits under the umbrella of War, right?”

“Murder does, yes.”

“Then, why have I been assigned to White?”

Allura sighed, and he could practically see her carefully choosing her words. “If you have a problem with it, you can lodge a complaint with the higher ups, but…I don’t think it will change.”

“Why?” He asked.

She sighed. “I’m…not the person you should be discussing this with. I encourage you to talk with some of the higher ups.”

“Fine,” He said, “I will.” 

Huffing, he made his way to the door. 

Outside were a number of other students, talking to each other excitedly about their new assignments. He even saw a few ghosts who must have just arrived from the Beyond to introduce themselves. 

The locket weighed heavily in his palm as he made his way up the rickety stairs. He made his way to the desk. 

A ghost named Coran sat in place at the desk. He was not one of the higher ups, but he could maybe get Keith in contact with them. Currently he was dealing with a number of papers and talking to other reapers behind his desk. 

“Coran?” Keith asked, approaching. 

Coran smiled wide, his mustache stretching, “Ah yes, sorry, Mr. Kogane, but if you’ll write your name down, I ‘ll get right back to you.”

Keith sighed. Bureaucracy. He wrote his name down and sat, waiting. 

He opened his fist to examine the locket again. He tried to open it. “It’s welded shut.”

He jumped as the voice sounded next to him. He turned to see a boy, a ghost, likely, as he wasn’t wearing a cloak, smiling at him. He was dark skinned with brown hair and blue eyes and an ironically lively smile, wearing a hoodie and jeans. 

“Finally, I found you,” he said, leaning on the arm of the chair. “Thought you’d be down with the other students.”

Keith settled, “You’re the ghost who’s attached to this?” He said, holding up the locket. 

The boy smiled, “Lance McClain, pleased to meet you!” He held out his hand. Keith reached out to shake it, but his hand phased through. He hissed, pulling back his hand to clutch it to his chest. 

“Cold!” he rubbed it to warm it up. “I’m wearing a cloak, you could have just shaken my hand.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Lance asked, offering his hand for real. This time, it stayed solid as Keith shook it. “So, whatcha doing up here and not down with all the other reapers?”

Keith sighed, “I have to talk to the higher ups.”

“Oooh, someone’s in trooooubllle,” Lance giggled.

Keith gaped at him. “Are you five?” He said before he could stop himself. 

Not really countering Keith’s argument, Lance stuck his tongue out at him. “Respect the dead. So,” Lance leaned in, “The big question: how’d you die?”

Keith sputtered, “Aren’t you not supposed to ask that?”

“Why not?” He asked, innocently, tilting his head. 

“It’s…it’s rude?” It came out more like a question. 

Lance scoffed. “You’ve been dead, what, a few months, and you’re gonna lecture ME on death etiquette? I’ve been doing this for decades.”

Keith sighs. “Well, how’d you die, then?”

Lance instantly turned somber and Keith was worried he’d insulted him. “It was a dark and stormy night,” he started, “I was walking home, and could barely see 5 feet in front of me. I heard someone walking behind me. Step, step, step. But when I turned, no one was there.” He lowered his voice until he was practically whispering. “Suddenly, I realized I had strayed from my path. I went to retrace my steps, when I saw him. He was at least seven feet tall and had giant fish hooks for hands! I tried to run away, when I felt the hooks sink into my back. The last thing I saw was my own blood seeping into the ground.” 

Keith blinked at him. Was this guy for real? “Seriously?” 

Lance’s somber face broke into a smile once again, “Nah, man. Polio.” 

“Polio?” 

“Vaccinate your kids,” He advised, leaning back casually.

“Mr. Kogane?” Coran called. Keith jumped up, Lance on his heels. It was always weird interacting with ghosts. The world around them didn’t move the way it should, like, Keith should have felt his breath or the air moving past him. Instead it moved through him. It moved through Coran too. “What can I do for you?” 

“I’d like to request a transfer,” Keith said. Behind him, Lance gasped. 

“Seriously?” He said, “We haven’t even been partners for five minutes!”

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just I didn’t die of sickness. I drowned.”

“Drowned?” Lance asked, “What are you doing in White Horse? Wouldn’t drowning come under the umbrella of Black horse?”

“Red, actually, considering I was pushed,” Keith said. 

It was Lance’s turn to gasp. “Aww, that’s a way cooler death than stinkin’ polio!”

Keith counted to 3 in his head to stop himself from doing anything rash. “Clearly there’s been some kind of mix-up. So, I’m requesting a transfer to fix it.”

Coran’s face was measured, difficult to read. “I’m afraid, Mr. Kogane, I cannot allow you to transfer. I can set you up with an appointment with one of our counselors, I know coming to terms with your death can be a difficult experience.” 

Keith grumbled at him. “I’ve already come to terms with it, I’ve just been assigned to the wrong division!” 

Coran sighed. “Why don’t I sign you up for that appointment?” 

Keith huffed and stormed off, “Never mind,” he said. 

Lance was no longer following his every footsteps, but he was there, leaning (or pretending to lean) against the door, “Sooo, that went well.” 

Keith grumbled, rushing past him and taking out his pamphlet with his assignment. Despite Lance not walking beside him, he was suddenly in front of him again. “Whatcha gonna do now?”

“I’ll talk to the higher ups later,” Keith said, “For now I’ll do my duty.” 

“You make it sound like you’re a soldier or something. Its just a little soul-reaping.” Keith kept walking past him, and he kept appearing in front of him again. “C’mon, we have a little time, right? Why don’t we get some coffee, get to know each other a little better?”

“You can’t drink anything,” Keith said, “and I don’t like coffee,”

“Fine, what do you like?”

“Finishing my assigned work on time.” Keith answered. 

Lance laughed, “Funny, you’re funny.” Lance sighed as Keith continued in silence. “You’re serious! Come on, I’ve been dying to talk to a living person for so long! Don’t you want to see a movie? Or…go ice skating?” 

“No.”

Lance grimaced. “Keith, you need to get a life.”


	2. Act Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith go on their first mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It won't come up in the fic, but rest assured that Pidge is a trans girl. And also is called Katie for now. 
> 
> Also, there is definitely some angst in this chapter. This will involve the only death that is a permanent death at the end of the fic, but you'll see it coming a mile away. It will still be sad and I am very sorry about that, just giving you a heads up.

“Ha! Suck it!” Katie shouted. 

Matt lay back on his hospital bed, “Nooooo, how could you defeat me with just a pidgeotto?” 

Katie started doing a dance by his bedside, “Pure skill, brother dear.” 

Matt threw his DS down on his lap, sticking his tongue out at his sister. “It’s cause you are a pidgey.”

Katie immaturely stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just a sore loser,” She continued dancing. 

Matt glared at her, but couldn’t hold down his smile. “Picking on a sick man. How could you?” 

Katie stopped dancing. “Alright, playing the cancer card is just rude.” 

Matt stuck his tongue out and chuckled, “Heh. Works every time.” He put his hands behind his head and stretched victoriously. 

Katie sighed in mock defeat. “Well, I guess if you’re dying you don’t need this pudding,” She snatched it off his night stand. She didn’t back away fast enough to avoid his grabby arms, though. 

“Haha! Got you now!” He said, holding her around her middle. Katie squirmed trying to get out of his grasp. The heart monitor attached to Matt sped up as they struggled. “Hey, careful! You’re going to rip out my tubes!” Katie kept fighting, but managed to not trip on any of the tubes. 

Neither of them could see Lance and Keith standing off to the side, watching them. “Mmm,” Lance said, “Pudding. I miss food.” Lance licked his lips. “They probably won’t miss just a spoonful, right?

“No manifesting.” Keith said, “Besides, it’s hospital pudding. You’re really going to risk part of your soul for vanilla hospital pudding?”

Lance sighed, “Keith, you’re no fun. See them? They’re having fun.” Matt and Katie kept laughing as Matt put her in a headlock and scruffled her hair. 

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Fighting is fun?”

Lance shrugged. “It is with siblings. Don’t you have any?”

“I have an older brother, Shiro,” Keith said.

“And didn’t you get into fun shenanigans with him?”

Keith thought back to his childhood of constantly aggravating him. “I guess when we were kids,” Keith said, “He lives too far away, now.” 

Keith sighed, thinking about him, but Lance acted as though his point has been made. “Well, they are kids.” Lance said, looking at the two of them, his happy demeanor slipping. “Damn. Why’d they have to give us a kid on the first assignment?” 

“Kids die all the time,” Keith said. 

Lance glared at him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Keith sighed. “It means that kids die. At least this kid seems to have a family who’s paid for his treatments and makes him happy and everything. Plus he’s been sick for a while, so he must be in some way prepared for this possibility.”

Lance’s glare turned into a scowl. “Just ‘cause other kids have it worse doesn’t make it any easier.”

Keith resisted rolling his eyes. “I’m not saying it’s not sad. I’m just…putting it into perspective.”

Lance mimicked him, making a face and over-exaggerating the word ‘perspective.’ “And they say I’m cold.” 

The heart monitor began beeping faster and faster until Matt stopped fighting Katie. “Matt?” She asked, realizing he was going limp, “Matt?” Her voice was small and shaking. 

Then, Matt’s eyes rolled into his head, and the machines around them started blaring. 

Nurses burst into the room, ripping Katie off of Matt and pushing her out of the room as a doctor came rushing in, another nurse on her heels pushing a crash cart. 

Katie swallowed, watching them through the window. “What happened?” She asked a passing nurse? “Is he gonna be okay?”

“Go wait in the lobby sweetie,” the nurse said. “It…might be a good idea to call your parents.”

“We were just playing…” Katie said, practically whispering as she watched the doctor apply treatment after treatment. 

“Go. We’ll be sure to keep you updated”

Katie’s eyes filled with tears. She backed up a step. Two. She took one last look at Matt, lying unconscious with doctors and nurses trying to jam tubes down his throat before she ran as far as she could. 

Inside the room, Keith pushed through the desperate hospital workers. Literally, with the cloak he was able to phase through them like a ghost. He had only done it in training so far, but this was the real thing. 

He reached down to Matt’s convulsing body, pushed his hands into him, and grabbed hold. 

He pulled out an image of Matt, separating it from his physical form. Like a feather weight, it floated out, and Keith let it stand on the floor. Peacefully, Matt’s soul opened his eyes. 

Keith’s training told him the first thing he would look to would be his own body, and Matt did not disappoint. A quick and silent glance between the body and Keith’s robes confirmed his suspicions, but he asked anyway. “Am I…dead?” 

Keith nodded, “Yes.”

Matt’s breath, or illusion of breath, sped up, “No,” he said, “no this can’t be happening.” He looked to the doctors, still trying to push life into his body even as the monitor flat lined. “No…no, they’ll save me. People have near death experiences all the time.”

The doctor punched into the mattress beside Matt’s head and took a deep breath. “Time of death, 10:52 am”

“No…” Matt said, “No, not now! Please not now!” 

“You had to know this day was coming,” Keith said, starting to get a little impatient. “It shouldn’t be a surprise.” 

Lance made ‘stop’ motions at Keith, “Ix-nay on the oldness-cay” He muttered. 

Keith sighed and attempted to be more empathetic. “I just mean, it’s time. Now if you’ll follow Lance, here.”

“Please!” Matt grabbed ahold of Keith’s robes, “Just a few more days! Just give me a few more days! I promised Katie—where’s Katie…”

He turned, looking around as the doctors and nurses started glumly cleaning up their instruments. Someone threw a sheet over Matt’s face. “Look,” Keith said, “Katie will be fine without you.”

“No,” He said, “I promised! She needs me!”

Keith sighed, and looked over at Lance. He motioned for Keith to keep going. “I understand…how it can feel that way. I’ve actually been in Katie’s shoes, my brother got into an accident as a teenager and nearly died.”

“But did he die?”

Keith swallowed, “Well, no, but—“

“Then you DON’T understand!” Matt said. “I promised I’d go to her science fair! We’ve been working on it for so long! I promised her I’d be there! Can’t you give me just until Saturday? Just until then and I’ll go with you willingly.”

Keith bit his lip, “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way.” 

Matt shook his head, refusing to accept what he was hearing. “No, no, no,” He clutched his head, backing away from Keith. Keith reached out to him, but he was shaking too violently, “No, no, no, no, NO!” As he screamed, his DS on the bed went flying. 

Keith and Lance looked at each other, knowing instantly what was happening. Matt was manifesting, and he needed to be stopped, now. 

Ever the empathetic one, Keith grabbed ahold of Matt’s shoulders and said into his face, “Matt, calm down. Everything is going to be okay.”

Matt did not take comfort in this. “NO!” He tried pulling and pushing against Keith. Keith struggled to hold on. 

“Lance!” Keith said, struggling to hold onto Matt, “A little help?”

“What do you want me to do?” He said. 

“I reaped the soul, you’re supposed to take him now.” Keith said, as Matt fought him like a child told he had to go to bed. 

“I can’t take an unwilling soul, Keith,” Lance said, matter-of-factly. 

Matt finally gathered all his strength and pushed Keith off of him onto the floor, running out, or rather through, the door. “Katie!” He shouted.

Lance chuckled and Keith glared up at him from the floor. “Sorry, sorry,” He said, getting his laughter under control, “Not laughing at you, just. Newbie ghosts, man. He doesn’t even know he can change his form, so he just lets his butt hang out of that damn hospital gown. 

 

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” The doctor told the sobbing Holt family. 

“But he was fine!” Katie said, her eyes full of tears, “Not 10 minutes before hand! How could he be—How could you not have known?!” She demanded. 

Her mother put a hand on her shoulder, “They did everything they could, sweetie,” Mrs. Holt tried her best to keep her voice steady. 

“I’ll give you some time.” The doctor said, “I can give you contact information to a grievance counselor, if you’d like.” 

Mr. Holt nodded, “Thank you,” He said, squeezing his wife’s shoulders. 

The doctor nodded solemnly and walked away. 

Katie’s parents tried to pull her into a group hug, but she pulled away from them. “No…” She whispered to herself, “It’s not possible…it’s not…”

“Katie,”

Katie swiveled around. That was his voice, there was no doubt about it, it was Matt’s voice. But she couldn’t see him. “Katie,” The voice called again.

“Matt?” she whispered into the quiet waiting room. Her hand went cold, almost numb.

In the Veil where Katie could not see, Matt was standing beside her, holding her hand. “Yes, Katie, it’s me. I’m right here. Can’t you hear me, Katie?”

“There he is!” 

Matt turned to see his reapers chasing after him. “Gotta go, Katie. Talk to you later.” 

Matt phased down through the floor. Keith grumbled. Even though he was wearing his cloak so he could act as a ghost, he was still human and was getting tired of running around. 

Lance, on the other hand, lacked lungs and muscles and so was doing fine just standing by Keith’s side, silently judging him. Or, not so silently. “you did have to complete, like, empathy courses and stuff before becoming a reaper, right?” 

Keith glared at him as he caught his breath, then got up to phase into the floor, following , “This is…exactly why…I shouldn’t have been placed in white horse.” He said, aggravated. “I can’t empathize with people who’ve been sick for a while! I don’t know what it’s like to suffer like that. How am I supposed to make him understand?” 

They jumped. Matt was nowhere in sight. “So…is chasing people down how to handle murder victims or something?” 

“Why can’t you talk him down?” Keith said, “Polio’s not that different from Cancer, right? I mean, back from your own time.”

They paced around, searching for signs of the ghost. “Keith, I’ve been dead longer than I’ve been alive, I’m not so great with the whole ‘relating to living people’ thing. Or recently dead people.”

Keith paced around. The unfortunate thing was that hospitals were full of ghosts, so it was difficult to try and find just one, while also avoiding the others. “Why don’t you talk all old-time-y then?” He said as he walked. Lance glided along next to him and looked confused. “I mean, you dress all modern and talk modern, but you must have died, what, a hundred years ago?” 

“Only 70, thank you very much.” He shot back, “Almost 71…ooh, my death day’s coming up.” It was Keith’s turn to look quizzical, “and if you must know…we get basic cable in the Beyond.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Cable?” 

“Every time a cable connection dies, it gets sent to the Beyond,” Lance said with full sincerity. “I’m just waiting until we can get one of these streaming services to get hooked up.” 

“Do you take anything seriously?” Keith asked. 

Lance shrugged, turning the corner to help search for Keith, “What’s wrong with trying to live a little? Get it? Live a—“

“I get it,” Keith said. He sighed, patrolling the hallways, “Can’t you like…tell him what the Beyond is like? Maybe that’ll relax him to know where he’s going.”

Lance sighed, “Yeah, that’s a big no-no from the guys upstairs. Besides its….complicated.”

“Complicated?”

“Well, I know that life is just so simple, but if you can believe it death is less so.” Keith huffed, and tried to think of a new plan. “You know,” Lance said, “This would go a lot faster if we split up.”

“We physically can’t be that far separated,” Keith said, pulling Lance’s locket out of his pocket, “I’ve got this, remember?”

“I know, I was saying, if you passed it to me, just for a little bit, then we could split up.”

Keith grimaced, “You know I can’t do that.”

“Why nooot?” He whined, “I’ll come right back! Don’t you trust me?”

Keith groaned. “It’s not a matter of trust. It’s against the rules.”

“Keith, buddy, pal, life is too short for following the rules all the time.” Keith rolled his eyes at the pun. “C’mon, man, it IS mine, it carries a lock of hair from the person who means the most to me in the world.” Keith paused at that. It was oddly sincere for Lance, but then Lance continued, “Me.”

Keith stopped walking. “Keith?” Lance asked, “It was a joke, do you really need me to explain it?” 

“No, the joke was terrible,” Keith said, “But it does give me an idea.”

 

Five minutes later they were in the morgue. “These guys sure work fast,” Lance said from behind the wall, “They got this guy down here in record time.”

“Can you find him?” Keith asked.

Lance poked his head out from one of the lower doors for the freezer. “His body’s down here.” 

Keith opened the drawer and Lance came out to stand next to him, looking down at Matt’s corpse. “So, what’s the plan, here?”

Keith took a deep breath. “Watch the door.” Lance nodded and stuck his head out the door. Keith waited until his back was turned before pulling out a flask from his cloak. He poured it over Matt’s body. 

“What is that?” Lance asked.

“Watch the door!” Keith said. He pulled out a match.

“What are you doing?” Lance demanded, rushing towards him. Keith lit the match, “Stop!” Keith dropped it and the body wet up in blue flames. 

Lance tried to reach him, pat the flames out, but Keith held him back. In a matter of seconds, the flame went out, and the body was turned to ash. Keith sighed in relief. “What. The. F—“

“It’s the most obvious solution,” Keith said, “You gave me the idea. 90% of ghost’s anchors are their own body, like the lock of your hair. So, destroy the anchor, the ghost’s link to the living gets broken, and,” He snapped his fingers, “And he’s forced into the Beyond.”

Lance glared at him. “Maybe it worked,” He said, “But it’s a terrible thing to do. You’re a reaper, you’re supposed to guide people through their deaths, not,” He mimicked Keith’s snap of his fingers. He looked down at the pile of ashes, “And what about the family? They’re going to want a body to bury.”

“Oh, right,” Keith said. He took a breath and concentrated. He had never done this outside of class, but how hard could it be? He raised his hands over the table and focused. The ashes pulled together, along with dust around the room. It shaped into an image of Matt. “There. Something for them to bury.”

Lance scoffed. “I see now why someone murdered you.” 

 

Late that night, Katie sat in her room. She had scavenged candles from her parent’s garage, along with some chalk that she’d drawn in a circle on the ground. The Ouija board was more difficult to come by when her parents were insisting on spending time with her, but a very convincing text to her best friend Hunk convinced him to get it and slip it into her room. 

“Spirits,” She said quietly, “I implore you, allow me to speak with my brother, Matthew Holt.” She took a breath and put her hands on the board. “Matt, please, if you can hear me, please, answer me. Are you there?”

She took a deep breath, and the cursor moved to ‘yes.’ “I’m here, Katie,” Matt said from the Veil, “I’m here.”


	3. Act 3?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith get to know each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pacing of this story is not going the way I want, so I'm just trying to get it all out there. So. Here is that part. 
> 
> Meanwhile I have to do research for the next part here. So. That's exciting.

The dreams always started the same. 

He was standing at the edge of the dock. His heart was racing like he was on a roller coaster. 

There was someone in front of him. He always tries to figure out who it is, catch a facial feature, a shape, some recognizable mark. The only time he’s had any success is when the person takes on his own face. This was one of those times. 

“Who are you?” He’d try and shout at the figure with his face. He was pretty sure he didn’t say that on the day itself, but he did in his memory. “Who ARE you?”

He tried to fight back, run, anything. He knew what would happen next, but his limbs wouldn’t move. 

The figure with his face gave him a hard shove and he fell backwards. He closed his eyes, preparing to fall into the water. 

Except he didn’t. He landed on something. Something solid. 

He reached down. It was cold it was…ice. The lake had frozen over. This had never happened in his dreams. His breath made a cloud in front of his face. He shivered. 

“Keith,”

He looked up. The figure on the dock looked down at him, talking to him. It didn’t have his voice.

“Keith!”

 

He jerked awake. His breath came quick and shallow. He was still cold, but he was getting warmer. “Geez, you don’t like making things easy, do you?” 

He looked up. Lance was sitting, er, floating on the edge of his bed. “Lance?” He asked, getting his breath under control, “What are you doing here?” 

“We’re attached at the hip, remember?” He smirked, “Er, locket, whatever.”

Keith rubbed his eyes, waking up further. “Why don’t you return to the Beyond?”

“Incredibly, even your dreary little apartment is more fun than the underworld. You need some more decoration or something. Good thing I was here to. Your faucet is running.”

“What?” 

Lance nodded his head over to the bathroom. Keith heard the sound of running water again. He wrestled his blankets until he was able to get up to turn it off. He sighed, trying to wake up quickly. “You were manifesting in your sleep, right?” Lance said from the bedroom. Keith looked up at him, perched on the edge of his bed. “You drowned, right? So, summoning water is like, your soul manifesting.”

Keith took a deep sigh. “Your concern is touching,” he said, “But its fine, it happens every once in a while.”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for Planet Earth, man,” Lance said, “It’s a damn waste of water.” Keith rolled his eyes and went back to bed. “Hey, don’t go to sleep!” he said, “C’mon, can’t you set up something for me to watch while I’m hanging out here?”

“Most streaming sites will stop after a few episodes if you don’t interact with the screen,” He said as he pulled his laptop from his nightstand. “And I can never go back to sleep after I wake up. I’ll have to be up in a few hours for the night shift anyway.”

“Oh yay, I get you as my entertainment.” He huffed and lay back on the bed. Keith’s feet felt cold. “Whadja dream about, you’re death?” Keith glared at him. “Hey, I’m making conversation. C’mon. Ooh, did your killer take on your own face? That’s always so creepy when that happens in the movies.” Keith continued to ignore him, waiting for his laptop to load. “I miss dreaming. Even the scary ones. Whoever came up with ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ is a stone cold liar. What I wouldn’t GIVE to sleep.” Keith’s laptop blinked on and he logged in. “Your door’s unlocked, by the way.”

“Huh?” Keith looked up. Lance nodded at his front door. Keith got up again and went to his front door. He must have forgotten to lock it when he came home last night. 

He locked it and came back, where Lance was waiting, not having moved. “Wouldn’t want your murderer to come back and finish the job, now would you?”

“I doubt they would,” Keith said, picking his laptop up again, “I’m pretty sure it was a random murder.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Lance said, “I’ve only known you a day, and I have plenty of motivation, if murdering you didn’t mean manifesting.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “It’s not a matter of that. My family’s all in Texas. No one here knows me well enough to want to kill me.” He pulled up local news sites, police reports, the works, anything that could give him a hint of other murders in the area with a similar M.O. to his own. It was a familiar routine, but he’d so far been unsuccessful. 

“They could always have hired someone.” 

Keith sighed. “Unlikely.” He tried to focus back on his reading, but…

“If they’re in Texas, what are you doing here?” Lance asked. 

Keith glared at him over the edge of the laptop. “Art School.” 

“YOU go to Art School?” Lance jerked up into sitting. 

Keith sighed. Lance didn’t seem to stop pestering him. “Used to. Dropped out.”

“Why?” Lance asked. Keith glared at him again with one raised eyebrow. “Oh right. The dead thing.” 

“Yeah, that thing.”

“Do you still have the paintings?” Lance asked. Keith nodded at the wall to the living room. 

Instantly, Lance popped off his bed and reappeared in the living room. It took him seconds to find the couch with the paintings laid out behind them. The paintings came from years of work. Most of his early work was landscapes with a lot of color, some pictures of Shiro or his parents. As Lance looked down the line he came to his later works which his teacher described as ‘impressionist’ with a lot of black and red. “You embrace the emo title pretty fully, huh?” Lance called from the other room. 

“It was cheaper sticking with two paint colors,” Keith called back. He once again re-focused on his computer. There were a few instances of bodies found in lakes around the state, but none were quite right. 

“Huh,” Lance said, “You really captured the ‘death’ feeling.” 

“I haven’t painted since I died,” Keith called back.

He jumped nearly out of his skin as Lance suddenly appeared at the foot of his bed again. The jump made his laptop fall off his lap onto the floor. “Like I said, you embrace your emo title fully.”

“You have GOT to stop doing that,” Keith shot at him, picking the laptop up off the floor. 

Lance paid his irritation no mind, “So, you don’t paint. Your apartment is just barely less dreary than the land of the dead. What do you do? Like, in your free time.” 

“Just research.” 

“Ah. Trying to solve your own murder. Like Patrick Swayze.”

Keith sighed, “You have movies in the Beyond too?”

“Nah, I met Patrick Swayze, he told me the plot.” Lance said, leaning back again. Keith raised an eyebrow at him. “All ghosts know each other.” Keith was going to hurt his eyes from rolling them so much. “Why do you even care that much? So you got murdered. What are you gonna do, go all vengeance spirit on the guy? I’m pretty sure that’d kick you outta the reaper’s club.” 

Keith sighed. “If I can prove I was murdered, they’ll HAVE to approve my transfer to Red Horse.” 

“Being in White Horse isn’t so bad.” Lance shrugged. “I mean, most murder ghosts are the weird violent ones, you don’t wanna have to deal with that.”

“You mean the actually interesting cases?” Keith said, “Well, for one, if I transfer, it’ll mean we won’t be partners anymore.”

“So what have you got so far?” Lance jumped to his side, looking over his shoulder at the laptop. 

Keith counted to 3 again, stopping himself from snapping. “I can’t find any related murders. It’s possible it’s an isolated incident.”

“Mm, possible, but unlikely,” Lance said, “there aren’t nearly as many purely random murders as you might think. Usually it’s done by someone who knows the victim.”

Keith sighs, “What confuses me is how did I even get placed in White Horse in the first place? Aren’t the records like…magical, or whatever? So even if there was a clerical error-“

“Maybe you technically DID die of sickness?” Lance suggested. “Like, maybe its not a strict red or white thing, there could be like…shades of pink.” Keith raised his eyebrow at him, wondering what the hell he’s talking about. “Maybe the person infected you! Or, poisoned you or something.”

Keith screwed up his face, “I specifically remember a push…besides, wouldn’t poison have still counted as murder?”

Lance shrugged, “Maybe you got sick from the water and died from that before you drowned. Or, or you were ALREADY sick and died of that like…seconds before you drowned.”

Keith frowned, “That feels…unlikely. But, I suppose unlikely is more than nothing, so…it’s a working theory at least.”

“I could always poke around the Beyond. See if there are any other similar victims down there.” 

Keith looked up at him, “You would do that?” 

Lance smirked, “Whatever gets us to not be partners anymore.” With a snap of his fingers, he disappeared. 

 

Lance had not come back before the start of Keith’s shift. It was time to get their next assignment, but first he wanted to make his case to Coran again. “All I’m saying is there have to be reports of overlap. Like, maybe my case is somewhere in between being classified as ‘red’ or ‘white.’ Like a…a shade of pink…” His face was a shade of pink after repeating Lance’s incredibly cheesy words. 

Coran kept watching him with that measured face. 

When it was clear he wasn’t going to answer, Keith continued, “Like, sir, forgive me if I’m being improper, but you’re in Red division, right?”

Coran nodded, “I died from battle wounds, yes,”

“But there were many soldiers that died from infections from those wounds,” Keith continued, “So, maybe they could have been placed in Red or White divisions. So, even if I did technically die of sickness,” What sickness he couldn’t imagine, but he continued on, “I was also the victim of someone physically assaulting me. So, I’d like to ask once again for a transfer to Red.”

He was on really shaky ground, he knew. He wished Lance was here, (the only time he had wished Lance was there) with some more evidence to back up his ‘violent death’ claim.

Coran kept looking at him. “You make a fair point,” Keith smiled, “I could see grounds for some people working in different divisions than that they were originally assigned. However, I must ask…” Coran leaned in, “Why do YOU want to transfer into Red.” 

Keith swallowed. To be honest, he hadn’t really thought about it. He just always assumed he HAD been in Red, so, that’s where he wanted to be. “I just…I’ll fit in better there,” He said. “I can’t relate to a lot of these sick people. I don’t know what it’s like to suffer like that.”

“And you believe you would relate better to murder victims?” Coran asked. Keith nodded slowly, not really sure if he believed himself, but believing its what Coran wanted to hear. “How?”

Keith blinked, “Excuse me?”

“How would you relate to them?”

“I-“ he stammered, “I just…I was murdered so…so I could relate. I could…try and help them figure out what happened to them, like I’ve researched my own death.” He swallowed. He wasn’t sure how Coran would respond to the information he was researching it, but his face remained passive. Keith swallowed, “Ghosts from red division are considered most volatile, the most…dangerous.”

“And you find that fascinating?”

Keith swallowed, “That…that isn’t what I meant. I didn’t mean to sound…” He swallowed, “apathetic, I suppose, or unsympathetic to what the ghosts must be going through. But I think I can help them.” 

Coran’s mustache twitched. “So it’s only about the other people? The other ghosts?”

“Of course,” Keith said, again, not believing it, but not having the answers himself, gave Coran the ones he assumed he wanted. 

Coran nodded slowly, and Keith almost thought he had seen through him. “Alright,” He finally said, “I’ll look into seeing if a transfer is even possible.” Keith sighed in relief, “But, whether it is or isn’t, I’d still like to sign you up for a counseling appointment.”

Keith’s face fell. “Is that really necessary?” He asked. 

“I believe so, yes,” Coran said. Keith’s face fell, “Is there a problem?”

“It’s just…I don’t like counselors.” He said, “There’s nothing wrong with me, nothing I can’t handle.”

“I don’t mean to imply there’s something wrong with you,” Coran said, “but I do think in your situation, you’d find it helpful.” 

Keith bit his tongue to keep from snapping. “I’ll…consider an appointment,” He said. 

That seemed to satisfy Coran. “Alright, so,” He said, “Lets get to that next assignment, shall we?”

“Uh, can we put a hold on that?”

Keith jumped as Lance appeared beside him. #1 on his list of things he would ask for in a new partner is that he announce himself before popping in. 

Coran was less surprised, but more irritated. “Is there something I can do for you?” He asked, staring Lance down. 

“Uhh,” Lance rubbed the back of his head nervously, “Can I just, uh, can I borrow him for a second?” He grabbed Keith’s shoulder and pulled him out of the chair. 

Frustrated Keith followed him to the side, prepared to rip him a new one for trying to manhandle him, but his panicked expression made him pause for just a moment. “What?” He demanded. 

“Uhh, we’ve got a bit of a problem,” Lance said, “Matt Holt’s not in the Beyond.”

Keith stared him, not processing everything at first. “Are you sure?” Lance nodded frantically. “There have to be billions of souls in the Beyond, maybe you missed him or—“

“Look, which one of us has actually been to the Beyond?” Lance said, “Trust me, he’s not there. You must have been wrong about his anchor.”

Keith grit his teeth, wanting to snap at Lance but also panicking too much. “We have to go back to the hospital and find him.” 

 

Katie must have jumped two feet in the air when her cellphone chimed. She quickly hit answer, only noticing it was Hunk after she had pressed the button, and dove down to hide under the desk. “Hunk,” She whispered harshly, “I thought we agreed texting would be the signal.”

“This isn’t a signal,” He said, “I’m just…dude I’m getting majorly freaked out here.”

Katie sighed. She knew Hunk would be uncomfortable with this, but she didn’t have a whole lot of options. Determining that no-one must actually be coming, she wriggled out from under the desk and sat at the computer again, “You’re just playing as lookout, Hunk,” 

“I know,” He whispered back, “But people keep passing me by, I think they’re getting suspicious.” 

“They just think you’re a child delinquent,” She said, as she hooked up her own device to the computer. 

That was the wrong thing to say, and Hunk started whining. “Katie…”

“I told you to use my codename on all communications!” Katie said back. Her device started scanning through passwords to get into the computer. 

Hunk sighed. “Pidge, please. Come back out and lets get out of here before anyone finds us.” 

“Hunk, just stay there and act natural.” She balanced the phone in the crook of her neck as firewalls popped up and she had to type through them. 

“I don’t know how to do that!” 

Katie rolled her eyes, “Look, I’ll be out as soon as I can, okay?”

“But-“

“Bye.” 

She hung up just as she got through the firewall and into the system. “Alright, now, lets see. Matt Holt medical records…”

Matt hovered behind her. “Katie,” He said, “Be careful.”

She kept typing, paying him no mind.


	4. Act 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance return to the hospital to confront Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter this week but I like where it cut off.

“We have to find whatever his anchor is and destroy it,” Keith said as he swiftly marched through the hospital’s doors, cloak billowing behind him. “The longer he stays here the more dangerous he becomes.”

“Keith, you have got to get off book here,” Lance said, floating by his side, “It’s done nothing but cause us trouble so far.”

“Well, at least I’m doing something!” Keith stopped, shouting at him in the lobby. Everything was darker and quieter in the night, their fight going unnoticed by the quiet night crowd around them. “All you’ve done this entire time is yell at me about how I’m doing things wrong! You’re supposed to be my partner, you’re supposed to help!”

“What do you want from me? This is my first assignment too!” 

“That’s the other thing,” Keith said, pacing, “Ghosts get chosen for reaping assignments soon after their deaths, but you’ve been dead for 70 years! Why are you only reaping now? Why do you look and talk so modern? Why do you know so much about modern culture?”

“I told you, its ‘cause of—“

“And DON’T give me crap about dead cable connections!” 

Lance crossed his arms defensively. “Look, you have your secrets, I have mine.”

“What secrets?” Keith said, staring at him in disbelief, “I don’t have any secrets!”

“What about the night of your death, huh?” Lance said, stepping forward to tower over him.

Keith shook his head, “I’ve told you everything about that, I don’t know any more than you do.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance asked, “What were you doing on the lake that night?”

“I—“ Keith opened his mouth to answer, but no words came. No words came because he had no memory to tell him. He thought back to it, he had re-experienced his death night after night for 6 months, but…it always started the same way. He was at the edge of the dock. He tried to think of anything earlier, how he got there, why he went…His memory was blank. “I don’t remember…”

Behind them, a round boy who had been shaking and nervous tried to get a drink from the water cooler, only for a gallon of the stuff to spill out onto the floor. He yelped out, desperate to try and shut it off. 

“Keith?” Lance asked, staring at the water that crawled toward Keith like a swarm of insects, ready to pool around his feet. Lance grabbed onto Keith’s shoulders and shook. “Keith!”

Keith was snapped out of his reverie, getting his breathing under control. Instantly, the water stopped flowing, pooling out onto the floor. He had never manifested like that when he was awake. He took a deep breath. “We…we need to find Matt’s ghost.”

Lance looked confused between Keith and the water cooler, as though slowly putting together a puzzle. “Look, all I’m saying is…lets try a little more empathetic approach first, okay? Before we whip out the lighter fluid.”

Keith sighed, “Deal.” 

The boy, who’s pants were drenched from the water, shook harder as he took out his cell phone. “Katie,” He said, immediately getting Keith and Lance’s attention. “Or Pidge or whatever. I can’t do this, okay? I’m going home.”

Keith and Lance jumped forward to listen in on the conversation, “—most done, just give me a few more minutes.”

“I can’t!” Hunk said, “I’m going to have a heart attack!”

“Well, at least he’s in the right place for one” Lance added. Keith smacked him so he could hear.

“Look, I’ll be right down, okay? I just need you to give me the all clear that there’s no one in the hallway.”

Hunk leaned out into the hall, “No one’s there. Just get out of there, will you?” 

“I will. In a few minutes.” 

“Pidge—“

“Deep. Breaths.”

Keith and Lance followed his gaze down the hallway. Out of one of the doors, Matt’s head popped out. He gasped at the sight of them, darting back inside. “Hey!” Keith called out, running down the hall. 

Inside the room, Matt put a hand on Katie’s shoulder, “Katie, I gotta go, please be safe and—“

“Wait, stop,” Keith said, phasing through the door, Lance on his heels. “Matt, I won’t—I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to,” He said, “Just…talk to me, for a moment.”

Matt backed away from them, suspicious, but didn’t run. 

Ketih sighed. It was a start. He looked down to see Katie at the computer. She seemed to be downloading something onto her computer. “What are you doing?” He asked. 

Matt looked at his sister, “Katie’s investigating my medical records. She’s the only one who believes I couldn’t have just died out of the blue. She’s the only one on my side.”

Keith looked at her again, “So, what, you have her doing your dirty work?”

“It’s-It’s not like that!” Matt said, “I need to prove-I need to find out what went wrong! Who DID this to me!” 

“And what will you do?” Keith said, “If you do prove it? Try and take vengeance on the world?”

“MAYBE I WILL!” Matt shouted at him. 

Keith took a deep breath. “Matt, listen to me very carefully. You’re not thinking straight.” Matt shook like a leaf, “You don’t belong in the world of the living anymore. The longer you stay here-the more you try and interact with the living, the more you’ll be split apart between the land of the living and the dead. Don’t you see? Don’t you remember the real Matt? The living Matt? He’s not this paranoid and…and vengeful. You’re hurting yourself, inventing enemies when they’re not there!"

Matt wasn’t capable of crying, but he shook harder. “M-Maybe I am splitting apart.” He said, “Maybe…maybe I do feel…angrier…than when I was alive.” He stared Keith straight into his eyes, “But that’s MY decision, not yours. If it means staying here, I’ll split my soul as much as I want!”

“What about Katie?” Keith said, indicating the girl who remained oblivious to them. “Look at her. Breaking and entering? Hacking into medical records? Didn’t you say she had a science fair in a few days, why isn’t she working on that?”

Matt looked down at Katie, “I—“ He stammered, looking for an excuse, “I—“

“You’re not the only one not moving on, Matt,” Keith said, “Now, please. You have to go. For her sake.”

Matt looked down at his sister, who was willing the little progress bar forward as she downloaded material. 

He might have said something, might have been willing to give in…if Katie’s cellphone didn’t ring at that moment. “For the love of Pete, Hunk,” She said, taking her phone out of her pocket and onto the desk where it could no longer disturb her. 

The phone kept vibrating, but she was too focused on her work. 

They looked up and saw the top of a grey haired head in the window, stopping at the door. “Katie,” Matt said, “Katie you gotta go.”

Katie’s head popped up as she heard the sounds of someone turning a key in the knob. The progress bar blinked ‘complete’ and she snatched her device out of the port and hid under the desk, clutching it to her chest. 

The Doctor opened the door, thinking her office was empty, not containing 4 people, 2 and a half of whom were dead. 

She paused, frowning, and noticing the computer was turned on. Katie shuddered under the desk, desperate to not make a noise as the Doctor came forward, slowly, her heels echoing on the tile.

Matt stepped forward, as though to block her from view, which would have worked better if he was visible to her. 

She stepped to the other side of the desk and was about to crouch and look under it, when their was a knock on the door. “Yes?” The doctor said. 

Keith and Katie were the only ones who needed air, but all 4 of them let out a breath of relief anyway. Their relief was short lived as the security guard opened the door, holding the little round boy Hunk by the shoulders. The little boy was crying. “Excuse me, miss,” He said, “This little boy says he helped a girl slip into this office.” 

“Well, there’s nobody here, unless…” She looked under the desk and pulled Katie out of it. “Looks like he was right.”

“LET HER GO, BITCH!” Matt shrieked, lunging for her. 

“Matt, no!” Keith cried, but it was Lance who launched himself forward and knocked Matt away before he could hurt anyone.

“You’re the Holt girl, aren’t you?” the Doctor asked as Matt struggled in Lance’s arms, clawing at him. “I should call the police on the both of you,” Hunk whimpered, “But I understand you’re very upset. It’s not an excuse, mind you.” 

Behind them, Matt’s eyes glowed in anger as he built up his strength, his body shimmering around the edges. He tried to push forward but Lance was far more experienced at being a ghost and held on. 

That wasn’t what concerned Keith. What concerned him was Katie beginning to shimmer slightly herself, Matt’s anger feeding into her. “She’s the anchor…” he muttered to himself. 

“LET GO OF ME!” She shouted, pulling off the doctor’s arms, “YOU’RE HIDING SOMETHING! I KNOW IT! I KNOW IT!” 

“Ms. Holt, please,” 

Keith marched up to Matt and yelled in his face, “Look, Matt!” He screamed over Katie’s yelling.

“PEOPLE DON’T JUST DIE OUT OF THE BLUE!” Katie screamed at the doctor.

“You’re affecting her! You’re hurting her!”

Matt froze in place, watching Katie scream “I KNOW IT I KNOW IT I KNOW IT.” Her face was red and tears streamed down her face. A nurse passed by, pausing to stare at the spectacle Katie was making of herself. 

“Security, get them out of here,” The Doctor demanded. 

The security guard dragged Katie out, Hunk following quickly behind. “Don’t you see, Matt?” Keith asked, “You HAVE to move on. For her.” 

Matt looked conflicted. He shook his head, “No…no, she’s right though. I couldn’t have just died. I couldn’t have just—“

Matt popped out of existence. 

Lance jumped back, surprised. “What the-“

“His anchor moved,” Keith said, “He was drawn to it.” 

Lance flinched, massaging his arm. That was when Keith saw clawmarks there, not bleeding, but black and rotting. “He hurt you!”

 

Outside the hospital, the security guard released Katie’s arm, and the doors shut behind them. “I’m so sorry, Katie,” Hunk whined, “It’s just—they said they’d call the police! Or worse, my parents and I—“

“It’s okay, Hunk,” Katie said, composing herself. 

“Are you sure?” He asked, “Cause you kinda exploded back there.” 

She took a deep breath. “It’s fine, “I got what I needed.” She plugged her USB with the downloaded file into her tablet. “Medical records for one Matthew Holt, age fo…” She re-read the line on her screen. No, that…that couldn’t be right. It was just a typo, right? “Age 45, height 6’3 and 280 pounds…this…this can’t be right! I…” She looked up at Hunk’s face, horrified at herself. “I…I grabbed the wrong file…”

 

“Ah, its not a big deal,” Lance said, “It’ll heal over fast.” 

Keith blinked, “I didn’t know that could happen….”

Lance shrugged, “The living hurt the living, the dead hurt the dead. Kid was just lashing out, I’ve had worse.” 

“Seriously, is there like…a ghost doctor or something you can get that looked at?” Keith asked.

“No, no, it’s fine, see, watch.” Lance looked at his arm as the skin healed over the rotten marks on his arm. 

“Okay, if you’re sure…”

“Did they find anything?” The nurse said. 

Keith and Lance were distracted from their musings by the doctor and nurse behind them. The doctor was scanning through her computer, the nurse concerned over her shoulder. “I don’t know,” She said, pulling up screens, “She’s downloaded a file, but I’m not sure which one yet.”

“Maybe we should have called the police after all,” the nurse said. 

“No,” The doctor replied, “they might be stupid enough to believe her.”

“What do we do?” The nurse asks, “If she has anything useful we’ll be in lawsuits up to our asses.”

“Forget lawsuits, we could both lose our licenses. Maybe worse.” She took a breath, “There’s nothing we can do, right now. They’re just kids acting alone, we can handle them. Nobody has to know.”

Keith and Lance exchanged a look as the doctor shut down her computer and the two of them left. “Holy shit,” Lance said. 

Keith gaped. “Matt was right after all. He wasn’t supposed to die…”


	5. Act 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance help Matt to solve the case of his death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um. There's some angst in this. Sorry.

Katie sat at her kitchen table, miserably staring at the medical record she had retrieved, as though she could change it with her mind. No matter how many times she re-read it, though, it still read “Matthew Holt, Age 45.”

What made matters worse were her parents, pacing around her like a pair of sharks and talking over each other with how upset they were. 

“—in the middle of the night—“

“—wandering around—“

“you have other responsibilities!”

“Could have been anywhere, dead on the side of the street—“

“And dragging Hunk along? That poor boy—“

“What were you even doing?” 

Katie took a deep sigh. “I went to find information about Matt’s death.”

Both parents paused, looking at each other. “Katie…” Their father said, sitting down in front of her, “I know…I know this has been really hard for you. But sometimes…sometimes things happen. And we just have to accept them. Matt wouldn’t want you to suffer like this.”

“Don’t listen to them, Katie,”

It was less words and more a feeling Katie felt. 

She felt it, of course, because the vengeful spirit of her brother was behind her, egging her along. “Ask for an autopsy,” He instructed her. 

“If we just had an autopsy to confirm what he died from—“

“Katie, we know what he died from.”

“Then an autopsy will make sure of that, won’t it!”

That started up another argument, child and parents going back and forth. All three were unaware of the two strangers who wandered uninvited through their walls. 

Matt, however, was. He backed up a few steps, “I’m not going with you! I—“

“Matt, relax,” Keith put his hands up in surrender, “We’re here to help you.”

Matt looked between the two of them, suspicious, but curious. “What do you mean by that?”

“We know now you didn’t die of cancer like we thought,” Keith said, “We’re going to find out what happened.”

“Why?” Matt demanded of them. 

Keith took a deep breath. “Because I know what its like, not knowing what happened to you.” He swallows, “I know what its like to be scared, and angry that no one will believe you. That you’ve been wronged, and no one will tell you anything about it.” He swallows, looking Matt in the eyes, “We’re going to find you answers, Matt. We’ll find you justice.”

Matt shuddered. He might have cried if he had tear ducts, but he didn’t, so he just nodded his head. 

Lance clapped his hands together. “Alright! Lets solve a murder! Where do we start?”

Matt looked over at his arguing family. “I have Katie arguing to get an autopsy on my body, so we can figure out what really happened.”

Lance and Keith exchanged nervous looks. 

Matt was instantly suspicious. “What did you do with my body?”

“Insightful kid, aren’t ya?” Lance said.

“Look,” Keith tried to get control back, “First off, stop trying to influence Katie. I wasn’t kidding about the damage it can do to both of you, and if you won’t stop for yourself, at least do it for her. Second…your body’s been incinerated.” Matt’s eyes bulged. He opened his mouth to yell, but Keith held up a finger, “Ah, ah, ah, what’d I say about getting angry?” 

Mr. Holt cut them all off by stopping the family argument. “Fine. If it will put everything here to rest, we will go to the hospital tomorrow and ask for an autopsy.”

Matt threw his hands up in the air. Katie, however, was the one to say “Oh, great!” as sarcastically as a 12 year old could. Which was pretty sarcastic.

“But Katie dear,” Mrs. Holt said, “I thought that’s what you wanted?” 

Katie herself look confused at her outburst. Keith glared at Matt until he relaxed. “It…is…I’m happy. Thank you.” She didn’t sound happy. 

“Alright then,” Mr. Holt said, “Then its time for bed. For everyone.” The living Holts all retreated upstairs. 

Matt’s restraint seemed to be at its limit. “NOW what do we do?”

“Relax,” Keith said, “If we can figure out what killed you, I can put the symptoms into the mannequin I left behind.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Matt hissed, “Katie got the wrong medical records at the hospital.”

Keith went over to check Katie’s tablet, looking over the record Katie had gotten. When it was clear he wasn’t going to answer, Lance piped up. “Maybe we could sneak in? Try and get the records ourselves?”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Keith said, reading through ‘Matthew Holt, 45’s record. “Actually…I think I have a lead.” He took out a notepad and started jotting things down. 

“Your serious.” Lance said, “You lose a ghost 5 minutes into your first assignment, and now you can solve a murder just by looking at the WRONG medical record?”

Keith smirked at him. “Told you I should have been in Red Division.” He sighed, then turned to Matt, “We have to go do some research. Meet us tomorrow at the Hospital.”

 

The next day, the Holt family went for a family excursion to the hospital and spoke to the receptionist who told them to wait, and they’d be able to consult with Dr. Ives after she was finished with a patient. They brought with them Mr. Holt’s friend of a friend from work who was a lawyer and agreed to help them figure out their rights in this case. 

Matt went with them, but as soon as he entered the hospital doors, he went right up to Keith, who was sitting in the library on his phone, cloak off. “So what’s the plan here?” He asked. 

Keith did not respond. This was Keith, right? The reaper? “Keith?”

“He can’t hear you,” Came a voice behind him. Lance stood there, smirking at Matt. Keith looked up at Lance’s voice. 

“Who can’t hear me?” Keith asked Lance.

Lance shook his head, “Matt’s here,” He told Keith, “Matt, Keith can’t see ghosts unless he’s wearing his special Reaper cloak, or if he has their anchors, like he has mine.” He turned back to Keith, “He’s in room 425.” 

Keith nodded, getting up and going to the elevator. Lance followed, motioning Matt to come with him. “So…he’s not dead?” Matt asked, watching Keith. 

“Kinda,” Lance said, “He’s kinda like a ghost who’s been given special permission to possess his own body.” They went into the elevator, and Keith looked over at Lance, questioning. 

Matt frowned, “Given permission by whom?”

Lance shrugged, “Powers beyond either of our understanding, kid.”

Matt scrunched up his “That doesn’t seem fair.

“You’re telling me.” The elevator came to a stop and Keith walked out. 

“Wait,” Matt asked, “Why isn’t he wearing his cloak now?”

“Well, he can’t very well talk to the living when he’s all ghostly, now can he?” Lance said. 

“Who is he going to talk to?”

Keith came up to room 425 and knocked on the door.

A middle aged woman answered, “Who are you?”

“Hi,” Keith said, “Is this Matthew Holt’s room?” 

The woman nodded, crossing her arms, leaning on the doorway. “How do you know Matthew?”

Keith swallowed, “We haven’t met, yet, I’m afraid,” He said, swallowing as he tried to come up with an excuse. 

Thankfully, she replied, “Are you with that lawyer’s office?”

Keith blinked. “…yes.”

She sighed in relief, opening the door to let Keith in, “Finally,” She said, “We have been calling for ages and no one’s gotten back to us.” 

In the room was a man, sleeping on the hospital bed, his face scrunched up in pain. Matt looked down at him. Despite sharing a name, the two didn’t have much else in common. “Are you Mrs. Holt?” Keith asked.

“Oh, no,” The woman said, blushing, “I’m Paula, his fiancée. We’re planning on getting married after he’s recovered.”

“That’s wonderful,” Keith said, “Congratulations.”

Her face darkened, “That’s IF he recovers. He’s been suffering since the surgery. The pain medication they’re giving him is doing NOTHING. All the medical staff keeps apologizing, but not doing anything!” Paula stroked Matthew’s hair back. “But look at him. He’s not faking, I can tell. He’s in so much pain he sleeps most of the time so he doesn’t have to feel it.”

“Keith, come look at this,” Lance said, leaning over Matthew Holt’s IV. Keith casually made his way over, looking at the label pasted on the back. “It’s exactly what we suspected.” 

Keith gave a subtle nod. “Has Mr. Holt ever had any history of opoid addiction, ma’am?”

“No,” She said, “If he had they wouldn’t have even let us into surgery. My fiancee’s not an addict, Mr…”

Keith looked up, “Shirogone. Takashi Shirogone.” 

Paula nodded, “And even if he was an addict…what does that matter? He’s hurting, and no matter what Dr. Ives says, he NEEDS more medicine!”

Keith nodded slowly. “May I borrow your phone for a moment?” Paula frowned, confused, but handed over her phone. He took a picture of Matthew Holt’s pain medication, then handed the phone back to Paula. “Paula, there’s a family downstairs, the Holts, as it happens. They have a lawyer with them, an…associate of mine. I want you to go downstairs and show him this picture.” 

Paula’s frown deepened, “Wait, why can’t you show it to him?” 

Keith shook his head, “I’m going to need you to trust me on this. Show him this picture, and if he wants to verify it, bring him up here to look at it in person. Once he believes you that this is real, here is what you’re going to say:”

 

Dr. Ives was having her first good day in weeks. Her newest patient was responding to treatment spectacularly, and best of all, all the damn mess of the Holt business was finally behind her. 

But it didn’t hurt to make sure. “Hi, Shirley,” She said casually to the nurse at the nurse’s station. Shirley smiled nervously. She looked around, taking out a chart to make it look like they were discussing a patient’s treatment. Which, they were, but Dr. Ives didn’t want anyone to hear. “Did you switch out Mr. Holt’s medication?” Shirley flinched. Dr. Ives took a deep breath, her bad mood returning. “Shirley…”

“I’m sorry!” Shirley said, “It’s just, Mr. Holt’s had visitors all morning and I didn’t want to go in while they were there, and—“

“Lower your voice,” Dr. Ives commanded. “Its not like his visitors would recognize the medication! Shirley, we are this close to having this all behind us.”

Shirley scrunched up her face. “I know…I just…I keep thinking about that boy…”

Dr. Ives shook her head, “Look, there is one more dead cancer patient in the world. It’s sad, but its not shocking. It was one mistake, do you want to throw away your career for that?” Shirley shook her head. Dr. Ives rubbed her eyes, “Do you have the medicine on you?” 

Shirley nodded, taking out the medicine packet, “I was too scared to leave it lying around.” 

Dr. Ives took it. “I am going to go switch it out, and then we’ll never have to deal with this again, okay?” Shirley nodded, and Dr. Ives marched her way over to room 425. 

What she was not expecting was a crowd of people in the room. Matthew Holt lay awake, shaking in both pain and anger, his fiancée by his side. Then there was the Holt clan, with the young daughter smirking from her chair. Lastly, and the ones who concerned her most, was the strange man talking on his cell phone, and a police detective

“Ah,” The man with the phone said as Dr. Ives walked in, covering the receiver, “Just the person I wanted to see. Give me one moment.” He turned back to the phone, listening. “Thank you, your honor, I’ll have my aid come to you in just a minute.” He hung up the phone. “Hello, Dr. Ives, correct? I’m Mr. Portes the Holt’s lawyer, well, now BOTH the Holts’ lawyer. And this is Detective Barton. He has a warrant to search your medical files for our investigation.”

Dr. Ives backed up half a step. “Investigation? What investigation?”

Mr. Portes sighed, “Malpractice, of course, Doctor. As you know, mixing up two patient’s morphine medication is a serious offense. Especially when one of the patient’s ends up dead. If we’re correct, a mistake like this could have resulted in a morphine overdose.” 

Dr. Ives felt the blood drain out of her face. “Mr. Portes,” she says quietly, “May I speak with you outside.

She leads the lawyer out into the hallway. “You see,” She says, “I was having a good day…”

 

Reaper cloak back on, Keith raised his hands over Matt’s fake body. “There. One body with symptoms of morphine overdose.” 

He put the body back in the drawer and turned to the two ghosts, leading them upstairs. “So, that’s it?” Matt said, “What’s going to happen?”

“There’ll be an investigation,” Lance said, “And we’ve left plenty of fake evidence that will lead them to the real truth. If this lawyer is worth his salt, the malpractice suit will go through and she’ll lose her license.”

“It’s possible the case will get dropped though,” Matt said, “I mean, the doctors here face malpractice suits all the time!”

“Maybe,” Keith said, “But we found the truth. There’s nothing more we can do now.” 

They made it to the lobby where the Holt’s were talking to the lawyer and detective still. Katie sat in a seat beside them. Matt grumbled. “Doesn’t seem fair. I’m dead and all she might go through is a bad trial.”

In her seat. Katie scrunches up her fists. Keith and Lance exchange a look. “Unfortunately,” Keith said, “There’s no punishment that will undo what she did.”

“So nothing’s changed,” Matt said, “We solved it, but I’m still…I’m still dead! Nothing’s better! I thought…” He kneels down in front of his sister, “I thought it was supposed to be better.”

Keith smiled sadly at him, “Nothing makes death better, Matt. It just is. It happens to everyone, and all we can do is…is deal with it.”

Matt looks up at him. “You don’t. You didn’t die, not for real.”

Keith shrugged, “I will someday. Permanently. And when I do…life will go on without me. Just as it will now that you’re gone.”

Matt shook, but it was Katie who was crying. “I want to see her, though.” He said. “I want to see her grow up and do great things, living her life. I want to be with her, in whatever way I can. I want…” He faltered. 

“You can’t.” Keith said, his voice soft, but final, “You’re already gone. This thing you’re clinging to…its just a fantasy. It’s not real life. I know she would want you with her too, but…you can’t. But look.”

“Katie?” Mrs. Holt was torn from her conversation to look down at her daughter, quietly sobbing, “Oh Katie dear,” She swept down and hugged her child close.

“I just…” Katie said, “I miss him so much!” Mrs. Holt held her tighter, and Mr. Holt came to join in. 

“We do too, sweetie,” Mr. Holt said, “We do too.”

“They have each other now,” Keith said, “They will always love you, but…you’re not a part of their world anymore.” 

Katie sobbed harder. Matt reached out to take her hand. She flinched away from the cold touch, and he pulled back. He turned around, looking not at Keith, but at Lance. “Will I get to see her again?” He asked, “Someday? A long time from now? And she can tell me everything she’s done, everything I’ve missed?”

Lance opened his mouth, and closed it again. Finally he said, “I’ll tell you when we get there.”

Matt nodded slowly. He stood up. “I’m not ready,” He told them.

Lance offered a hand. “No one ever is.”

Hesitantly, Matt took his hand. Visible only to the three of them a light appeared between the two of them. 

Katie looked up from between her sobbing parents. “Look,” She whispered. They did. They might not have been able to see the light of the Beyond, but they could see behind it where the light refracted out the lobby windows perfectly to shine a small rainbow over the words on a poster reading ‘Take care.’ “It’s Matt,” She said, “I know it is. He’s telling us he’s okay.”

Matt stepped into the light. Lance went to follow, but turned back to Keith at the last second, “You know, you’re actually not bad at this whole thing after all.”

Keith smirked and rolled his eyes, “I live for your approval.” 

Lance gaped, “That was a joke! That was a death joke! That’s funny!” Keith scoffed at him, as Lance’s face turned serious, “I’ll ask around for real, this time,” He said, “I’ll see if I can find anything out about your death.”

Keith sighed, not realizing the relief that statement would bring him. “Thank you,” He said. 

Lance winked, and followed after Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am sorry. If it helps, I'm crying too.


	6. Act 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds answers, and Keith doesn't like them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY the following note is a fairly crucial spoiler for this chapter, BUT I'm not gonna let you go into this blind, so, if you want to risk it and not be spoiled, continue to the chapter. If you would rather know what's coming, continue reading this note.
> 
>  
> 
> Okay, so, what I want you to do, is scroll up and read the tags for this fic really quickly. Did you see the first tag? That's going to be relevant for this chapter. Very relevant. Flashback relevant, followed by a dissociative episode. SO when it starts, I have put a little ****. Once the flashback ends, and the dissociative episode begins, I've put a **. Once the episode ends, I've put another ****. So, if none of this is your speed I can't really blame you, but you can skip that part. Thank you for reading this fic!

“You mean it?” Keith said to Coran, “I got transferred?” 

Coran nodded slowly, “After much debate, we’ve come to the conclusion your death is significantly violent enough to allow a transfer.”

Coran slipped him his new documents with a red sigil on them. Keith smirked. “Thank you, Coran. Thank you so much.”

“Oh, don’t thank me,” Coran said. “Thank your partner. He’s become quite the annoyance in the Beyond about all this.”

Keith snorted, “That sounds like Lance.” He chewed his lip, ready to walk away now that he’d gotten what he wanted, but there was one other thing, “Where is he, anyway? He left after our mission was complete and I haven’t seen him since.” That was 2 days ago. He had found out about Matt still being in the veil decently fast, how long did it take to get answers about his own death?

Coran’s face fell slightly as he got up. “Well, I’m sure if he’s around you’ll know about it. You still have his anchor after all.”

Keith pulled the locket out of his shirt to look at it. “Yeah, I guess I do. Its just weird, I know he said he didn’t like the Beyond much. Oh, should I turn in his anchor now that I’m—“

Keith looked up but Coran was gone. “Hello?” He asked. Shrugging he muttered, “See you tomorrow for my next assignment, then.” 

He passed by Mary Black and her ghost partner chatting amicably. Mary looked up from her new best friend to wave enthusiastically at Keith, “Hey! How’s work going?” 

Keith opened his mouth, unsure of what to say at first. He came up with, “Good, overall.” He gave her a little smile. 

“That’s great!” She said, “You should join us sometime, our class is having a trivia night for reapers and their ghost partners.”

To be honest, that idea terrified him. It was filled with social interaction he did not want to deal with. But…”Yeah, sure, some time.”

Mary brightened, “Great! I’ll come to you with details later.”

Keith nodded, “Great.”

He went home without incident. His apartment was weirdly empty without Lance. He had only known him for a few days, but, even temporarily, it had been nice having someone there. 

He thought about doing more research on his death, but knew it’d be a dead end. He snorted to himself. For some reason he could hear Lance saying ‘dead end’ in a weird voice. 

Keith walked over to his paintings. He considered painting something again, but had 0 inspiration on that front. He sighed and took his phone out, texting Shiro. He sent out the note “Hey, you at work?” Shiro didn’t respond, so Keith assumed he was. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure that hadn’t been there before. He turned, and there Lance was, standing perfectly still. “Lance!” Keith said, “There you are.” Keith got up to go to him. 

Lance’s smile was gone, along with all traces of humor. He refused to look Keith in the eyes. He walked past Keith, staring at his paintings, specifically the last one, an abstract mess of black and red. “Hey,” Keith said, trying to get his attention, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He was sure Lance would laugh at that, it was right up his alley, but he got no reaction. “So…I got my transfer, thanks for that.” Lance nodded slowly. Well, at least that was a reaction. “So…uh…I mean, I hate to press the issue, but…did you find anything out?”

Lance turned away from the painting, but still didn’t look at Keith, “I found out everything.” 

Keith’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. “You did?” Lance nodded. “Well, that’s great! What happened? Who did it?”

Lance met his eyes for just a moment, full of the same pity Coran had. He looked away quickly. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Finally he said, “You know, I shouldn’t be the one to talk about this.”

“Lance—“

“No, really, maybe you should talk to those counselors or whatever—“

“LANCE!” Keith reached forward to grab him, but he wasn’t wearing his reaper cloak, his hand going right through Lance’s arm. “Please, just…everyone’s treating me like I’m a kid or something. Just tell me.”

Lance didn’t need to swallow, but he did, looking nervous. “Okay…” He still stared at the floor as he said, “You were sick.”

Keith threw his hands up in the air, “That’s what everyone’s saying, but I wasn’t—“

“Keith! Listen to me!” Lance finally met his eyes, stony and serious, “Think back to before you died, back at art school. You were sick.”  
****  
Keith didn’t know if it was the sincerity of what Lance was saying, but a memory floated to the surface of him, in this very room. Maybe it was the day Shiro missed his call….Or the day his parents asked him how school was going…or the day he got a fail on his assignment. But the event itself was clear, Keith, balled up on his bed, crying his eyes out.

“You were depressed, Keith. Your brain broke down and you forgot how to function.”

Keith remembered. He finally remembered, laying on his bed, no longer crying, just…laying there, like he’d forgotten how to move. His phone rang and went to voicemail, “Mr. Kogane, you have missed 3 consecutive classes. If you miss a 4th, I will be forced to give you a failing grade.”

“You needed help. You were sick, you needed medicine or…or something.”

That had been the final straw. It dredged up just enough anger, just enough ‘I’ll show them, I’ll show all of them’ to finally get him out of bed. It was the only decision that could motivate him to move, drive his motorcycle out to the park, break in after it had closed, march all the way down to the end of the dock looking out on the inky black water.

“No…” 

“Keith. You remember now, don’t you? There was no one else on the dock.”

It was the same memory, the same one that had played in his dream every night for six months.

“No.”

He stood at the end of the dock.

“No!”

He stood facing away from the water.

“NO!”

With just the tiniest of accepting smiles on his face, knowing he was about to finally know peace, he fell backwards, allowing the icy depths to swallow him up.

“NOOOOO!!!”

“Keith?”  
**  
Keith was gone, lost in a sea—or a lake—of memories. The scene replayed again and again, he searched it for a sign of something faulty, but it felt so true, so unbelievably correct, he was drowning all over again.

Distantly, he heard Lance’s voice, trying to reach him. He could feel water, though he wasn’t sure if he was remembering the water, or if it was the water pouring out of every faucet in his house, pooling at his feet, or maybe even the teardrops running down his face. 

He felt like he was being tugged back and forth between the past and the present. Lance was saying something…

“Keith, please, come back, your soul is getting pulled from your body. Keith, please!” 

Pulled from his body? That felt right. His body, everything about the physical him was going limp, numb, while the memory…the memory felt so real. It wasn’t a memory, he was there again, the water filling up his lungs, pushing him, dragging him down…down…down…

He could see himself…he could see two versions of his own body, one stuck in the lake, one falling limp in the middle of his living room, like a puppet who’s strings had been cut.  
****  
And then…he was back. 

He was in his living room. His body had feeling again. He felt cold… “Lance?”

It took him a moment to recognize Lance in front of him holding him, squeezing him. He was cold, but…solid. “Lance…” He muttered, his throat feeling like it had been through a cheese grater, “You’re…I’m not wearing my cloak, you’re manifesting…”

“It’s your soul I’m worried about right now,” Lance said into his shoulder, squeezing his hug tighter. 

Keith wanted to retort, say he was okay, give Lance a warning for breaking the rules, but as the water dripped through his floorboards, he did the only thing that came naturally. He held onto Lance, burying his face in Lance’s ice cold shoulder and letting his tears freeze as they fell in streams down his face. 

 

About an hour later, Keith was sitting on his couch beside Lance. Lance had managed to make Keith get a glass of water, which he drank gratefully. The tears had finally stopped, although Lance was watching him like one might watch a bomb about to explode. 

Keith finally pulled the water away from his lips, not looking at Lance. “Thank you,” Keith said, “For telling me. And pulling me back.”

Lance gave a little shrug. “They’d probably blame me if I let my Reaper separate. Just trying to keep my job.”

Keith smirked slightly, taking another sip of water. “What a pair we make, huh?” Keith said. Lance turned his head to the side, questioning. “A ghost who wants to live, and a living person who wants to die.”

“One of our goals is far more achievable. Just saying.” Lance joked, trying to get Keith to smile. 

It worked. The smile faded, though. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“I have an idea,” Lance said. He stood up, “Wait right here, I’ll be back in just a second.” 

He popped out of existence. Keith felt the loneliness sink into his stomach, just before Lance popped back in. “Okay, I’ve got directions now. Follow me.”

 

“I meant like, what do I do now as a general thing, Lance,” Keith said, as he paid for his ticket. 

“Well, that’s obvious,” Lance said beside him, “You keep living, now. You clearly still want to be here.”

“I do?” He said, walking into the auditorium.

“Of course you do.” Lance floated over the seat beside him. Keith looked over at him. “You agreed to come back, didn’t you? To be a Reaper?”

Keith nodded. “I don’t remember that moment. I still don’t know why I was chosen.”

Lance shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, you were. You’re alive, so all you have to do is…keep living, I guess.” He looked over his shoulder, “You should stop talking to me, you’re getting stares.” 

Keith looked back at a parent who was frowning confused at him. “Bluetooth,” He explained. 

The parent nodded and turned away. Lance snickered and Keith glared at him. The audience quieted down as the announcer came up, welcoming everyone. “And now,” the teacher said, “Our first contestants, Katie Holt and Henry Garrett.”

Katie and Hunk walked onto the stage, Hunk holding the little robotic device Katie had used to hack into the hospital’s medical facility. 

Keith watched Katie set up the robot. She seemed…smaller. Empty, almost. Keith recognized that look, it was…directionless. Going through the motions. For a moment, it seemed she met his eye contact, but then looked away.

“She won’t recognize us,” Keith whispered to Lance, “Our presence here won’t mean anything to her.”

“It’ll mean something to us.” Lance said, “You did good on this mission. So, maybe art school wasn’t your thing, but you actually enjoyed being there for Matt. You fought to be a part of Red division. Why do you think that is?”

Keith shrugged, “I thought I’d be good at it.”

Lance smiled, sweeter than before. “Sounds to me you were looking for a reason to live.”

Keith glared at him out of the corner of his eye, “Sounds to me like you’re trying to be a therapist.”

Lance put his hands up in surrender. After they finished setting up, Katie stepped forward. “We…” She said, unsure of herself. She looked to her parents in the audience, who gave a nod of approval. “We would…we would now like to present…the Mechanical Algorithm Trespassing Technology,“ She swallowed a sniffle…. “or, MATT.”

She nearly let out a sob, but Hunk put a hand on her back. She held it in and continued, “Let us show you how it works.”

Keith watched, but had little real interest in the technology behind MATT. Instead, he leaned over to Lance, “Hey…I was thinking…maybe we could do something fun. Once I’m transferred and we’re assigned different partners. There’s a social thing I think the other reapers are putting together.” 

Lance smiled at him. “That WOULD be nice, but…” He smiled at Keith, slyly, “I’m transferring with you.”

Keith frowned at him, completely confused. “You’re what?”

“Transferring into Red Division.” He said smiling, “Turns out, my death was a bit of a shade of pink too! The guy I got Polio from gave it to me on purpose. Apparently, I annoyed him, and he coughed right in my face!”

Keith blinked at him, “Really?” Lance nodded enthusiastically. Keith sighed, shaking his head. “Are you ever going to tell me the truth about yourself?”

Lance laughed loud, but only Keith could hear. “Oh, Keith. I’ll take that secret to my grave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, guys, thank you so much for all the support you've given me, this fic feels like its loosened up a lot of my writing, I'm hoping to get a lot more done this week. If you want to scream at me, feel free to hop on over to dorkempress.tumblr.com, or, follow me for fandom content and incoherent rants.
> 
>  
> 
> Oh, also: I'm sorry I'm leaving Lance's death a mystery. Like I said, this is kinda a concept for a TV pilot, so that would be a mystery that gets unfolded over the course of a season. I MAY continue this fic as part of a series, but this really is mostly just a supplementary to my original work, so, we'll see what happens there.


End file.
